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Head to head · Browser automation · October 2026 research run

agent-browser vs Browser Use

Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against agent-browser's 66.6 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. agent-browser leads on security & auth. Both do browser automation. Browser Use accepts x402. agent-browser doesn't.

agent-browserVercel Labs · MCP server B66.6/100#263 of 841 Browser UseBrowser Use · HTTP API BB77.9/100#17 of 841

Which one, for what

agent-browser B

Good for Coding agents with a shell that want short commands and compact snapshots.

Ahead on

  • Security & auth, 67 against 59

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it

Watch for

The ten most recent CI runs on main, 1 to 8 October 2026, all concluded in failure. In the newest, Windows Rust tests and native end-to-end tests failed

Browser Use BB

Good for An agent that wants to hand a whole browser task to a hosted agent and get a result back, or that needs a low-cost cloud browser over CDP, and for unattended agents that can pay by x402.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 87 against 48
  • Payments & pricing, 90 against 60
  • Maintenance & community, 77 against 70

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account
  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

The privacy policy says inputs are used to train Browser Use's AI models, with no opt-out described outside Enterprise zero data retention

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runagent-browserBrowser UseEdge
Reliability16%204887Browser Use +39
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28485Browser Use +1
Agent ergonomics13%16.27878even
Security & auth14%17.56759agent-browser +8
Payments & pricing10%12.56090Browser Use +30
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87077Browser Use +7
Transparency & trust7%8.86165Browser Use +4
Negative events≤1500
Total66.6 · B77.9 · BB

Facts side by side

Factagent-browserBrowser Use
KindMCP serverHTTP API
VendorVercel LabsBrowser Use
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://api.browser-use.com/api/v4
TransportsstdioHTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio
AuthNoneAPI key
PricingFreePay per use
x402noyes
LicenceApache-2.0MIT for the open-source library and the SDK. Browser Use Cloud is a proprietary service under Browser Use's terms of service
Tools exposed1587
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registrynot listedcom.browser-use/browser-use
Last release2026-10-012026-10-07
Terms last updatedno document linked2026-07-15
Privacy policy last updatedno document linkedno date given
Customer content may train modelsyes
Terms restrict automated accessyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryes
Popularity44k stars, 2.1M npm/wk117k stars, 107k npm/wk, 2.1M PyPI/wk

Verdicts

agent-browser

Snapshots with element refs, a 29-tool default MCP profile and opt-in domain allowlists, action policies and content boundary markers suit agent use. The project is at 0.38.2 with no stable release, the ten most recent CI runs on main failed between 1 and 8 October 2026, and every security control is off by default.

Browser Use

The hosted cloud accepts x402 top-ups in USDC on Base with no account or API key, and publishes prices, rate limits and three OpenAPI documents. The privacy policy says inputs are used to train Browser Use's models, API keys have no documented scopes, and no prompt-injection guidance was found in the docs.

Before you call either

agent-browser

  1. Run agent-browser install once after npm install -g agent-browser. It downloads Chrome for Testing
  2. Take a fresh snapshot -i after any navigation. Refs survive same-document changes only
  3. Pass --json for machine-readable results and --max-output to cap page text
  4. Set --allowed-domains, --action-policy and --content-boundaries for untrusted sites. None is on by default, and the allowlist rejects --profile, --cdp and --restore
  5. Start MCP with agent-browser mcp, and add profiles such as --tools core,network only when needed

Browser Use

  1. Send the key as X-Browser-Use-API-Key with no Bearer prefix. A Bearer header returns 401
  2. Stop browsers with PATCH /api/v4/browsers/{id} and {"action":"stop"}. Closing CDP or the SDK client leaves the browser billing
  3. Poll GET /runs/{id}/status, not the full run, and wait for the returned Retry-After on 429, which can be 300 seconds at the edge
  4. Before resubmitting after a timeout, read the existing run's status. The server keeps running and may already have submitted a form
  5. With a wallet and no key, call x402.api.browser-use.com on /api/v2 or /api/v3 routes. A task stops with INSUFFICIENT_CREDITS if credit runs out mid-run

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, agent-browser or Browser Use?

Browser Use scores 77.9 (BB) on agent readiness against agent-browser's 66.6 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. agent-browser leads on security & auth.

Do agent-browser and Browser Use need an API key?

agent-browser needs no key. Browser Use needs an API key. An agent can also pay Browser Use per call over x402, with no account.

Can an agent call agent-browser and Browser Use without installing anything?

agent-browser runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. Browser Use has a hosted endpoint at https://api.browser-use.com/api/v4.

Are agent-browser and Browser Use open source?

Yes. agent-browser is open source (Apache-2.0). Browser Use is open source (MIT for the open-source library and the SDK. Browser Use Cloud is a proprietary service under Browser Use's terms of service).

Other comparisons with agent-browser or Browser Use

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